Peter Sutherland, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration and Development, is former Director General of the World Trade Organization, EU Commissioner for Competition, and Attorney General of Ireland. He will issue a report on improving internationa… read more

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Having just finished reading Douglas Murray's excellent book, "The Strange Death of Europe", I am not quite so sanguine about the levels of immigration, especially into Europe, as is Peter Sutherland. Read more

You will have one world government whether you like it or not - Paul Warburg, Chairman of the CFR.

Strategy - create chaos in the middle east and Africa. import massive quantities of 3d world immigrants (alien religion) to advanced/white countries. Ship all good jobs to China/Asia. Create identity politics in formerly advanced countries. Create chaos so that these formerly strong countries that would never, ever have considered giving up their sovereignty, will beg someone to fix the mess. End up on end of lamp post. (You couldn't get those guns out of the hands of the hard core resistance.) Read more

The fact is the UK is experiencing a population explosion, which is masked by the ONS grossly underestimating the real numbers of immigrants. Cameron said he would allow a few tens of thousand per year, when it has in fact been running at over 300k per year -now approaching 400k per year - meaning since 2010 over 2m immigrants have have moved to the UK!

Immigration is not a problem as long as there is the infrastructure available in the host country to cater for increasing population. Yet the UK is suffering from a chronic housing shortage, and government plans for 400k houses per year is pitifully inadequate. Local services are also reportedly under increasing strain, particularly the health. As the UK is lacking such infrastructure makes the immigration explosion a crisis.

Peter remarks that immigrants to the UK pay more in taxes than they take in benefits, yet the Guardian article he links to specifies European migrants. This to me highlights another key point: immigration is not a problem as long as the quality of immigrants is high. So immigrants that are economically productive, with skills that are in demand (working for lower wages is not really sufficient), and who are willing and able to assimilate into the host country, should of course be welcomed.

In this regard, to me it makes sense that refugees and asylum seekers are absorbed by countries with a similar culture, and therefore Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and other Islamic countries are best placed to take people fleeing instability in Syria and other Muslim lands. Western countries can and should provide funds and assistance for this - and quite rightly so, given it is these nations that are often causing the instability in the first place.

Peter says western societies need migration, but does not say why. I can think of two good reasons: 1) because with longer life spans and numbers of retirees becoming similar to the working age, the pensions and benefits system will break down; 2) because our debt based monetary system requires constant expansion otherwise it will implode, and this is impossible to achieve with a static or declining population. Read more

"Claims that migrants are a drain on national budgets are similarly inaccurate. In the UK, immigrants generate more in taxes than they draw in benefits".

Since the UK Center for Policy studies carried out a review of UK taxpayers that states that you have to be in the 4th Quintile of earners before being a net contributor to the state I am curious how many Immigrants as a percentage are earning over £39,642 (2011 figures so in all likelihood a higher figure now unless I missed the memo and Government started to find less things to spend taxpayers money on).

Whilst I personally support a certain limited level of immigration 500,000 into the UK - the south of the UK being the most densely populated part of Europe) is not the level I or anybody else not scoffing canapes in Davos before retreating to their gated communities with a Diplomatic protection squad on call can support.

I had a look at the document you linked to and I think you misunderstood what it implied. The figure of £39,642 is per household, not person. (The UK average household size is 2.3, though of course, that's not necessarily constant across quintiles.) Moreover, immigrants' demographics are different to the general population's, and that's true across income quintiles. On average, immigrants are younger and healthier (even compared to natives of the same age, I would guess, since unfortunately ill-health makes you less able to move) and more likely to be in work. It seems reasonable from that figure that they are net contributors. Read more

Migration is a human need - people have always moved, from Villages to Towns, from Small Towns to Big Cities.World Economic Development is a story about Migration - energies unleashed need to be harnessed.New York population is now 20 million and growing, 200 years ago it wasn't even 100,000.London population is now 10 million and growing, 200 years ago it wasn't even 1 million.Delhi population is now 25 million and growing, in 1947 after India's Partition it wasn't even 0.5 million.Beijing Shanghai Chongqing all nearing 25 million and growing.

What is needed is a greater number of Big Cities - geographically dispersed locations to cater to the local needs.Migration is not a disease that needs prevention - the author seeks to be so defensive that it defies real understanding.David Copperfield epitomized Rural Urban Migration - there are millions of Davids across the World.

Eastern Europe needed Free Migration to Western Europe - when it commenced its quest for emergence.The European Union enunciated its Four Cardinal Freedoms - Goods Services Capital and People.Of course, in the absence of a narrative that harnesses energies unleashed, Nationalisms prevailed.Compare it to the success that Migration created in The Anglosphere - when narrative facilitated.One Language, uber alles.

So, the solution to the Mediterranean migration is Mediterranean MegaCities - that facilitates the assimilation.The Mediterranean has been historically the source of Mankind's Greatest achievements - the narrative must facilitate.There is no shortages of funding - with PetroDollars in abundance - the creation of Mediterranean MegaCities.Like their counterparts in Asia - Chongqing Chengdu Changan Changsha - that were Small Towns now MegaCities.Like their counterparts in Asia in an earlier period - Hongkong Shanghai Singapore Tokyo - Small Towns now MegaCities.Like their counterparts in Arabia in an earlier period - Dubai Kuwait Riyadh Jeddah - Small Towns now MegaCities.

The global narrative facilitated Migration in the 18th CENTURY.The global narrative must facilitate Migration in the 20th CENTURY.Authors like Sutherland are in vantage positions to change the narrative.Authors like Sutherland should be in the forefront to make Migration the Macroeconomics Engine the world needs.

Where assimilation is not possible - it cannot and must not be enforced - in fact is a compass.A compass to redirect - and yet harness the energies of unleashed migration - to build greater MegaCities worldwide.Three Billion Asians cannot be assimilated in Three MegaCities Hongkong Shanghai Beijing.Three Billion Asians CAN BE ASSIMILATED in Thirty MegaCities, instead.The opportunity is in the way the predicament is defined. Read more

"The world’s six wealthiest countries – the US, China, Japan, Germany, France, and the UK", I seriously doubt this. Is China one of the wealthiest countries in the world? In terms of GDP, China is among the top. However, we have to take into consideration its huge population. So, in terms of GDP per capita, China is not a wealthy country at all. Read more

Yet another elitist out of touch with reality. Europeans are increasingly against immigration so what´s his solution? Open new legal channels for MORE immigration and to MANAGE it. No, we dont want to manage it, we want to stop it. And we will. Read more

I'm in strong agreement with you in regards to 'using facts' to support our positions, and I agree with much or all of what you've written here.

However, there are some other points (facts) to consider... that aren't covered in your fine essay.

Crime is much higher due to massive levels of immigration. Please see (especially) Sweden, Germany, Greece, and more.

Girls can't even attend a women's music festival without a high probability of being molested by immigrant men.

So what's the point?

Gain more in taxes, so that women have to hide in their houses?

That's a bad deal for half the population -- the female half.

The lack of leadership on what is expected of new arrivals (regardless of where they're from) by European leaders is astonishing and breathtaking all at once.

Refugees and economic immigrants, from Day 1 of landing in Europe, should've been handed water bottles and pamphlets in their language describing the rules of European culture, the rights of the person, the culture of respect for the laws of the country -- and not a gloss-over job -- but a poignant list of laws and societal norms that must be adhered to while inside Europe.

And printed in bold letters front and back of the pamphlets:

>>>"It's not a *right* to immigrate to our countries, it's a *privilege* -- therefore, consider yourselves guests in our countries."<<<

(Would you allow a 'guest' to your home to walk inside with muddy boots and walk all over your expensive carpets and furniture? Obviously not)

Then neither should you allow your 'guests' to molest your girls, rob subway passengers, and engage in rioting and looting.

"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet." -- Mahatma Gandhi

It is a very human thing to help out people in countries that are experiencing hardship due to conflict or famine, etc. The fact that we still do this (although not as well as in prior decades) gives me hope for humanity.

But it has been bungled and it needs to be fixed, ASAP.

Finally, refugees should be given a temporary landed immigrant card (a photo ID something akin to a EuroRail pass) that allows them to stay in the country for up to 4 years.

After that, it's time to go back home and rebuild your country, with the skills and experiences you've added during your time in the West. (Effectively limiting future civil wars to four years in duration)

European countries should attempt to:

1) Educate refugees/economic migrants to European legal and cultural standards -- from Day 1 of their arrival.2) Provide the normal full social benefit (welfare) for each adult, until they can find a job.3) Provide safe housing until a house, flat, or other reasonable accommodation can be found.4) Monitor those people to make sure they are getting on alright, finding services, housing, jobs, and are not being targeted by others in their community, or anyone else.5) Provide a free airline ticket to them to return to their home country (let's say they came from Syria, but didn't want to return to Syria at the 4-year mark, they could, at the airport, exchange their ticket for one to Cairo, for example)6) By taking in, and paying the living expenses of refugees and economic migrants (where they don't have their own funds to do s0) for four years, and by educating them to Western norms, and by helping them to find safe shelter and jobs, etc... it truly is a privilege for those people to be in Europe -- and they should conduct themselves accordingly. If not, they should be deported immediately, as soon as they are convicted of any crime (and obviously, their 4-year pass, cancelled. Permanently; No Return Allowed)

Every day, we teach others how to treat us.If we teach others that it's OK to come into our homes wearing their muddy boots, and to walk all over the carpets and the furniture, then we deserve everything that we get from those people.

If we (gently) teach them about the rules of 'our house' and provide the support they temporarily need, we are teaching them that we are their benefactors and people to be respected.

Thus far, we've been teaching the refugees the wrong things, and they have responded in kind.

It's a failure of vision and it's a failure of leadership. And it will end in the failure of some EU member nations.

(The Swiss in 2014, and Brexit in 2016, and surely more to follow, due to this bungling)

I've the highest respect for you Peter, but I felt these points needed to be added to the discussion.

As always, very best regards, JBS

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/01/its-not-only-germany-that-covers-up-mass-sex-attacks-by-migrant-men-swedens-record-is-shameful/ Read more

"share of people living outside their countries of origin has barely increased in recent decades, standing around 3% of the nearly 7.5 billion people alive today"no increase in %age - correct. but 2 decades ago, we were only 5 billion people! so in the last decades, in absolute figures, there was a huge increase! Read more

'In the last five years, 36.5 million people – just 0.5% of the global population – have left their native lands.'

Let us consider that most of the enforced aka desperate, including desperately opportunistic economic movement (economic migration is about half of the current EU 'crisis') is from developing rather then developed countries. As the West population is only growing incrementally at best it follows that population growth is expected in developing countries and a doubling of population in those countries is projected in a matter of decades. A 0.5% migration rate if maintained would be a doubling numerically of the current levels, or are you projecting migration drops by half? Of course some drivers for migration may ease but with continual conflict, forecast drought bands around the globe and resultant food issues you really have to doubt that. It looks more than an outside chance that migration pressures will grow

This looks like basic arthimetic to me not an attempt 'to manipulate the migration debate, using inflated figures and other gross exaggerations to stoke popular fears'.

BTW the figures for recent migrants to the UK are 70% have no intention of returning to their homeland, nor do I blame them for that. The experience in Germany with Turkish migrant populations encouraged decades ago is they have stayed. Migration is roughly speaking a oneway process and is perpetual. I would suggest that is going to become an issueRead more

Another gross misrepresentation in this article is the lack of nuance between immigrants and refugees. As an employee in the Immigration Department of a G7 country, I can assure you that there's a radical difference between economic immigrants from OECD countries (which are hand-picked because of their educational and work achievements) and refugees (who are admitted solely for humanitarian reasons). These two groups have very different degrees of integration in their host country and vastly divergent labour market outcomes. Applying the results of studies about economic immigrants to the refugee policy is gravely misguided. Read more

This article is full of so many misrepresentations it is ridiculous, as such it is little short of being propaganda

Please go and look up both the EU data and the recent German industial migrant sponsership experience. Most non EU migrants do not have the right of access they try to claim, do not provide useful workers and are due to cost the host economy openendedly. 30 billion pa in Germany estimated

EU migrants in the UK are generally acknowledged as pushing wages down by 6 to 7% for the low paid, they are also causing a housing crisis as building is not keeping up with the headcount, but lets miss that bit out

As for the nonsense about demographics. In the Southern EU youth are migrating away because they are unemployed, 50% is not unusual with hotspots of up to 75%, yet you are saying more labour is needed. Furthermore just how do you think importing people solves a longterm demographic problem, simply your idea just expands the number of youth needed in the next generation as the current inflow ages and has the same demographic outcome

Developing countries are housing migrants, by which I think you mean refugees. Only some, only some. Please list those neighbours refusing any access to provide some balance

As for UK citizens that migrate, they usually take capital with them or skills in shortage, and often they return for the UK welfare package, but agin lets not mention that. They are also numerically smaller than those turning up in the UK

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